1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for continuous wet heat treatment of a cloth, by which such treatments as pretreatment, dyeing, color development, weight reduction and setting (hereinafter will be called dyeing and weight reduction) can continuously and speedily be done, by using a tenter for transporting a long cloth continuously while broadening the cloth in its width direction (i.e., under width expansion) due to the effect of said tenter and applying high temperature hot water to the cloth by jetting hot water thereto.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
For subjecting a long cloth commercially produced to such treatments as dyeing and weight reduction continuously by the use of a wet heat reaction, the use of such apparatuses as "Perble Range" (commercial name by Sando Iron Works Co., Ltd.) developed by the present inventors or a high pressure steamer has been proposed. However, "Perble Range" is mainly used for the pretreatment of a cloth, not suited for the use of such treatments as dyeing and weight reduction, and it is rather impossible to apply "Perble Range" for such treatments. In using "Perble Range", a cloth fed in it is wet heat treated successively in batches in the folded and piled state, so that almost no tension is applied in the lengthwise direction of the cloth. Therefore, a cloth can be made shrinkable, but there occur such shortcomings as formation of creases and occurrence of unevenness at the bent parts because the cloth is treated in the folded state, and accordingly no satisfactory treatment can be done by using "Perble Range". When further subjecting a cloth pretreated by "Perble Range" to such treatments as dyeing and weight reduction, the cloth must be treated anew by the use of a different apparatus, necessitating many processes and a long period of time until a series of the treatments is finished. On the other hand, in the case of using a high pressure steamer, a long cloth is transported by the use of a plurality of guide rolls, so that it is possible to reduce the occurrence of creases and unevenness in the treatment. However, the cloth guided by means of a plurality of guide rolls is transported through the steamer body zigzag forming snaky undulations, so that a tension is caused to occur unavoidably in the longitudinal direction of the cloth, causing irregularity in the dimension of the cloth in its width direction. Thus, a cloth with an accurate size can hardly be produced in the case of using a high pressure steamer.
In applying a high pressure steamer, furthermore, since the steamer body must be maintained with a high temperature and a high humidity atmosphere prior to the wet heat treatment of a cloth, it needs a long period of time until the interior of the steamer body is made into a suitable condition, thus prolonging the preparatory time and consuming a large quantity of heat energy. Furthermore, in the case when the steamer body is provided with a pair of seal mechanisms at the inlet and outlet sides of the cloth for maintaining the interior of the steamer body with a high temperature and a high pressure atmosphere while allowing the continuous introduction and taking out of the cloth therethrough, the whole arrangement of the steamer body becomes complicated, and it is unavoidable that the size of the apparatus becomes large, increasing the installation cost. Accordingly, the present inventors have proposed a high temperature hot water jet nozzle, which blows a high temperature and a high humidity vapor directly to the cloth to be treated by the jetting force of hot water so as to speed up the operation of wet heat treatment and simplify the arrangement of the apparatus. However, the structure of the proposed jet nozzle has such a drawback that, even when the temperature of water to be jetted from the nozzle is increased, for example, to about 150.degree. C., water is partially evaporated immediately after it is jetted from the nozzle, decreasing the temperature of the vapor suddenly, scattering the vapor and losing the wet heat energy.